Thursday, August 02, 2007

Harris Poll Shows Number of "Cyberchondriacs" – Adults Who Have Ever Gone Online for Health Information– Increases to an Estimated 160 Million Nationwide

Searching the Internet for health care information has become more widespread in the past year. Over the last two years, the number of people who have used the Internet to search for health-related information has also increased markedly, (from 53% in 2005 to 71% currently). This brings the number of all U.S. adults who have ever searched for health information online (Harris Interactive® refers to them as "cyberchondriacs") to 160 million, from 136 million in 2006 and 117 million in 2005 — a 37 percent increase over two years.

The proportion of these "cyberchondriacs" who search online either often or sometimes has also risen. Most adults who have ever looked for health information online claim that they have been at least somewhat successful in finding what they were looking for. In addition, the great majority believes the information to be at least somewhat reliable, and most of them have talked to their physicians about the information they found on the Internet.

These are some of the results of a nationwide Harris Poll of 1,010 U.S. adults surveyed by telephone by Harris Interactive between July 10 and 16, 2007.

Specifically, the survey found:

The number of U.S. adults who have ever gone online to look for health or medical information has increased to approximately 160 million up from about 136 million last year. The reasons for this increase are that the total number of Internet users has increased somewhat and the percent of people online who have looked for information has increased as well. Cyberchondriacs now represent 84 percent of all online adults, up from last year’s 80 percent, and 72 percent in 2005;

Two thirds (66%) of adults online say that they have looked for information about health topics often (26%) or sometimes (40%), an increase of five percentage points from 2006 (61%);

The percentage of online adults who say they hardly ever or never search for health information has dropped to 34 percent, down from 39 percent last year and 43 percent in 2005;

Interestingly, while three-quarters (74%) of those who have ever searched the Internet for health information have done so once or more often in the last month, this is down from 2005 when 85 percent said that they had gone online one or more times in the past month looking for health information;

On average, a cyberchondriac searches the Internet almost six (5.7) times per month;

As in the past a large majority of cyberchondriacs (88%) continues to report that they were successful in searching for health information online. However, the percentage of those who say they were "very successful" has declined from 46 percent two years ago and 42 percent last year to only 37 percent now; and

Fully eighty-six percent of cyberchondriacs say that the health information they found online was reliable (26% "very reliable" and 60% "somewhat reliable"). Interestingly, this has declined slightly from 2005 when 90 percent felt this way. Of special note, the percentage of those who indicate that online medical information was "very reliable" has declined substantially from 37 percent in 2005 to the current 26 percent.

Cyberchondriacs are not only using the Internet to educate themselves, many are also using it to assist in their conversations with their physicians. A 58 percent majority of adults who have gone online to get health information say that they have discussed this information with their doctors at least once in the last year.

Furthermore, more than half (55%) of cyberchondriacs have searched for health information based on discussions with their doctors. This is an increase of ten percentage points from last year’s 45 percent.

So What?

The huge and growing numbers of "cyberchondriacs" who use the internet to look for health information and to help them have better conversations with their doctors has surely had a big impact on the knowledge of patients, the questions they ask their doctors and is therefore changing the doctor-patient relationship and the practice of medicine. There is every reason to believe the impact of the Internet on medical practice will continue to grow.

TABLE 1

CYBERCHONDRIACS: TRENDS 1998-2007

Base: All U.S. adults

1998

1999

2001

2002

2003

2004

2005

2006

2007

%

%

%

%

%

%

%

%

%

All adults who are online*

38

46

63

66

67

69

74

77

79

All online adults who have ever looked online for health information

71

74

75

80

78

74

72

80

84

All adults who have ever looked online for health information

27

34

47

53

52

51

53

61

71

All adults who have looked online for health information in last month

NA

NA

27

32

NA

31

45

51

53

All adults who have ever looked online for health information + (millions)

54

69

97

110

109

111

117

136

160

*Includes those online from home, office, school, library or other location

+ Based on July 2006 U.S. Census estimate released January 2007 (225,700,000 total U.S. adults aged 18 or over).

NA = Not Asked

TABLE 2

FREQUENCY OF ACCESSING HEALTH INFORMATION ONLINE: 1998 – 2007

"How often do you look for information online about health topics – often, sometimes, hardly ever or never?"

Base: All U.S. adults who are online*

1998

1999

2001

2002

2003

2004

2005

2006

2007

%

%

%

%

%

%

%

%

%

Often

12

13

16

18

17

19

25

21

26

Sometimes

30

30

30

35

37

31

33

40

40

Hardly ever

29

31

30

27

23

24

14

19

18

Never

29

26

25

20

22

26

29

20

16

Total who have looked forhealth or medical informationsometimes or often (NET)

42

43

46

53

54

50

58

61

66

Total who have ever lookedfor health or medicalinformation (NET)

71

74

75

80

78

74

72

80

84

Note: Percentages may not add up exactly to 100% due to rounding

*Includes those online from home, office, school, library or other location

TABLE 3

FREQUENCY OF LOOKING FOR HEALTH INFORMATION IN LAST MONTH: 2001-2007

"About how many times have you looked for information online about health topics in the last month?"

Base: Have ever looked for health information online

2001

2002

2003

2004

2005

2006

2007

%

%

%

%

%

%

%

Not once

40

39

NA

21

14

23

26

1 or more (NET)

58

60

NA

60

85

76

74

1 or 2 times

29

34

NA

26

31

35

30

3 – 5 times

17

16

NA

14

29

23

21

6 – 9 times

3

2

NA

5

6

5

8

10 or more times

9

8

NA

15

19

14

16

Not sure

2

1

NA

19

1

1

*

Mean (average)

3.0

4.8

NA

5.1

6.8

5.2

5.7

Median

1.1

2.0

NA

2.0

3.0

2

2

Note: Percentages may not add up exactly to 100% due to rounding.

NA = Not asked in 2003

TABLE 4

Success in Searching for Information Online about Health Topics

"How successful were you in your search for information online about health topics? Were you…?"

Base: Have ever looked for health information online

2005

2006

2007

%

%

%

SUCCESSFUL (NET)

89

88

88

Very successful

46

42

37

Somewhat successful

43

46

50

Neither successful nor unsuccessful

2

4

5

UNSUCCESSFUL (NET)

6

7

6

Somewhat unsuccessful

3

4

3

Very unsuccessful

3

3

3

Not sure/Decline to answer

3

1

1

Note: Percentages may not add up exactly to 100% due to rounding.

TABLE 5

Reliability of Searching for Information Online about Health Topics:

"How reliable do you believe this information is concerning health topics? Is it…?"

Base: Have ever looked for health information online

2005

2006

2007

%

%

%

RELIABLE (NET)

90

87

86

Very reliable

37

25

26

Somewhat reliable

53

61

60

Neither reliable nor unreliable

4

7

6

UNRELIABLE (NET)

5

5

7

Somewhat unreliable

3

5

6

Very unreliable

2

1

1

Not sure/Decline to answer

1

2

1

Note: Percentages may not add up exactly to 100% due to rounding.

TABLE 6

Discussion with Doctor About Information Found Online

"In the past year, have you ever discussed with your doctor the information you found online?"

Base: Have ever looked for health information online

2005

2006

2007

%

%

%

Yes (NET)

57

52

58

Yes, always do

15

13

12

Yes, sometimes do

25

21

22

Yes, have done once or twice

18

19

24

No, never do

43

48

42

Not sure/Decline to answer

*

*

*

Note: Percentages may not add up exactly to 100% due to rounding

* Less than 0.5 percent.

TABLE 7

Frequency of Searching Medical Information Online Based on

Discussion with Doctor

"Have you ever searched for medical information on the Internet based on a discussion with your doctor?"

Base: Have ever looked for health information online

2005

2006

2007

%

%

%

Yes (NET)

52

45

55

Yes, often

17

14

17

Yes, sometimes

36

31

38

No, never

48

55

45

Not sure/Decline to answer

*

*

*

Note: Percentages may not add up exactly to 100% due to rounding

* Less than 0.5 percent.

Methodology

This Harris Poll® was conducted by telephone within the United States between July 10 and 16, 2007 among 1,010 adults (aged 18 and over). Figures for age, sex, race/ethnicity, education, region, number of adults in the household, number of phone lines in the household were weighted where necessary to bring them into line with their actual proportions in the population.

All surveys are subject to several sources of error. These include: sampling error (because only a sample of a population is interviewed); measurement error due to question wording and/or question order, deliberately or unintentionally inaccurate responses, nonresponse (including refusals), interviewer effects (when live interviewers are used) and weighting.

With one exception (sampling error) the magnitude of the errors that result cannot be estimated. There is, therefore, no way to calculate a finite "margin of error" for any survey and the use of these words should be avoided.